


pick me up and take me home again

by caelestys



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Christmas Fluff, Christmas in Australia, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 12:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3068720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caelestys/pseuds/caelestys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: <i>Chaleigh, first Christmas together (if possible, Yancy and Herc around).</i></p><p>+</p><p>Chuck sweats through his sweater in the thirty degree heat but Yancy pelts him in the face with Raleigh’s nerf gun every time he looks like he’s going to take it off. And besides, Raleigh’s wearing his and they’re kinda matchy and he knows Chuck thinks it’s cute even though he won’t say so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pick me up and take me home again

**Author's Note:**

> [synekdokee](http://synekdokee.tumblr.com) prompted me with _Chaleigh, first Christmas together (if possible, Yancy and Herc around),_ so here is a very belated Christmas ficlet! Also, they're in Sydney, which is why the weather's hot and they're having a BBQ.

It’s taken three solid weeks of hinting and bargaining, but Raleigh has finally cajoled Chuck into holding a barbecue at their place for Christmas. Chuck is so fundamentally opposed to Christmas that Raleigh has to promise him that they won’t make a huge deal about it, he won’t even buy presents, but wouldn’t it be nice to do something together for Christmas?

They don’t even have a Christmas tree up. Raleigh feels like he is owed at least this.

Chuck’s week-long pout in the week leading up to Christmas is worth it for the grudgingly happy look on his face when Herc shows up with a slab of beer, and Mako shows up with a bottle of vodka, both well aware of the consequences if either of them try to bring Chuck presents. Then Yancy bursts through the door with horrible Christmas sweaters and crams one over Chuck’s head, then takes a photo and sends it to his whole contact list before Chuck can grab his phone.

They pull the couch and coffee table and every comfy piece of furniture they can sit on out to the deck in the sun, and Yancy puts something horribly bubble-gum-pop-Top-40 on the radio. They throw what looks like ten kilos of steak and sausages on the barbecue, and Herc mixes up a potato salad and Mako makes a greek salad and Yancy eats all the chips and covers all his snags in an avalanche of ketchup. Chuck mans the BBQ because because he needs to feel manly in his bright red and white sweater and doesn’t trust any of them to cook the steaks right. Raleigh wanders around taste-testing everything and offering useless opinions, only to have people hit him with spatulas and wooden spoons, cooling his hands on his bottle of beer and then shoving them up Chuck's sweater just to hear him squawk.

Chuck sweats through his sweater in the thirty degree heat but Yancy pelts him in the face with Raleigh’s nerf gun every time he looks like he’s going to take it off. The Pavlovian instinct sets in quickly, and Raleigh can tell every single time Chuck's thinking about shrugging out of his sweater because he instantly twitches and then looks around guiltily for Yancy. And besides, Raleigh’s wearing his and they’re kinda matchy and he knows Chuck thinks it’s cute even though he won’t say so.

Mako jams reindeer ears onto Chuck’s head and blackmails him into keeping them on because he didn’t buy her any presents, either, and Chuck stops complaining about it when she reveals that she’s brought matching ones for Max, too. When they’ve sufficiently eaten themselves into a food coma (Raleigh has to stagger to the nearest bean bag and flop down with his jeans unbuttoned), they play Go Fish around the table until they finish the beer, and then they move on to the vodka and Cards Against Humanity. The table is merrily littered in empty bottles and shot glasses, and Max is wandering around under the table eating everyone’s leftovers. Mako is yelling and throwing plastic cutlery at Yancy for cheating and Herc falls off his deck chair laughing and Chuck is making faces and the most hilarious, choked-off noises at all of the disgusting combinations that Yancy is throwing down.

There’s no snow, no Christmas music, no tree and no mistletoe, just the slowly setting sun, casting the sky in brilliant hues of pink and purple and blue and the sound of the family of tiny, annoyingly loud birds that have taken up residence in the tree in their backyard. Chuck’s face is blushing pink from the alcohol and his hands are swallowed up by the long sleeves of his sweater and the reindeer ears are tilting dangerously off his head. If all goes well, he might throw Chuck into the pool after this round, or he might get Yancy to do it so Raleigh can take photos and avoid getting pummelled--or he might just save it until everyone goes home or is asleep and do a little bit of festive skinny-dipping with his tipsy, giggly boyfriend. He kinda likes the idea of pressing Chuck, all wet and shivery and naked, up against the lip of the pool in the dark with nothing but the fairy lights on the deck illuminating his skin.

No one says Merry Christmas, but in Raleigh’s head, it’s the best one ever.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [caelestys](caelestys.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Come say hi!


End file.
